Could You Not Watch with Me One Hour?: How to Cultivate a Deeper Relationship with the Lord through Eucharistic Adoration

By Florian Racine

Fr. Florian Racine offers us a beautiful formation guide on Eucharistic adoration that will help us to practice it in all its depth, and with a missionary perspective.

God has made himself particularly close to mankind in Jesus his Son. The redemptive Incarnation of his Son is how God reconciles mankind with himself. The memorial of the Passover of Christ is therefore at the heart of our relationship with God. In the Blessed Sacrament, the resurrected Jesus is really present and acting; he draws all mankind into his filial relationship with the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, following the plan of God, Catholics put the Eucharist at the heart of their lives, and take time to adore Jesus in the Holy Sacrament. The adorer wants to abide within the dynamic life of the Eucharist, just as he desires that the Eucharist transform his whole life. Adoration and Eucharistic life transform believers into the image of Christ.

The author invites us on an itinerary, a journey of faith, in fifty-two stagesas many as the weeks in a year. He starts by showing how the Word of God is made present in the Eucharist, and then he invites us to mature in faith and to be transformed by a greater communion with Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Release date: Aug 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781681491134

Florian Racine

Fr. Florian Racine, a priest in the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon, France, and the moderator of the Missionaries of the Most Holy Eucharist, a clerical association erected by Bishop Dominique Rey in 2007. He is now rector of the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene church in Saint-Maximin, France.

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FOREWORD

Since the Second Vatican Council, Eucharistic adoration has been experiencing a true renewal, and this movement, encouraged by the successors of Peter, only continues to grow. The Council recalled the centrality of the Eucharist, the fount and apex of the whole Christian life (LG 11), the source and the apex of the whole work of preaching the Gospel (PO 5). And, the more we enter into the Eucharistic mystery, the more we are drawn into the Blessed Sacrament, which we desire to contemplate in order to live from it better. Eucharistic adoration cannot be separated from the Eucharistic celebration, as the ritual Holy Communion Outside Mass (1983) recalls: When the faithful adore Christ present in the sacrament, they should remember that this presence derives from the sacrifice and is directed toward both sacramental and spiritual communion (no. 80).¹ Indeed, practicing Eucharistic adoration leads to living the celebration of the Mass more intensely and bears evident fruit: In consequence, the devotion which leads the faithful to visit the Blessed Sacrament draws them into an ever deeper participation in the Paschal Mystery. It leads them to respond gratefully to the gift of Him who through His humanity constantly pours divine life into the members of His body (ibid.). Father Florian Racine has gathered and quoted some testimonies of the fruits of Eucharistic adoration; I am thinking in particular of that of Mother Teresa, who saw a positive change in her community starting from the moment the Sisters began adoring the Blessed Sacrament exposed to their gaze. This book expresses the strong conviction of the fruitfulness of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

When practiced superficially, Eucharistic adoration is perceived as a custom that provokes the enthusiasm of pious and sensitive souls or the annoyance of those who fear a reification of the Eucharist. The former are seeking a perceptible experience of the living Jesus, a heart-to-heart that can wind up being very self-centered; the latter hold that keeping oneself on one’s knees before a monstrance stems from narrow-minded devotion.

In this book Father Florian Racine offers us a formation in Eucharistic adoration that will enable practicing it in all its depth and with a missionary perspective. This program seeks to confirm believers in the validity of Eucharistic adoration, just as it seeks to open a journey of faith—of growth and perseverance in faith—to adorers, so that they become worshippers in spirit and truth: But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him (Jn 4:23). If God is present everywhere, he has made himself particularly close to mankind in Jesus his Son. The redemptive Incarnation of his Son is the means chosen by God for reconciling mankind and all creation with himself; the death and Resurrection of Christ are the only path to the Father; the memorial of the Passover of Christ is therefore at the heart of our relationship with God. In the Blessed Sacrament, the delivered and resurrected Jesus is really present and acting; he draws all mankind into his filial relationship with the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is logical that, in accordance with the plan of God, believers put the Eucharist at the heart of their life and take time to adore Jesus in this Sacrament. The adorer wants to abide within the dynamic of the Eucharist, just as he wishes also that the Eucharist might transform all his life.

The Teacher is here and is calling for you (Jn 11:28). Tied to the celebration of the Eucharist, well-practiced adoration of the Blessed Sacrament unites the believer to Jesus and through him to the Father, builds up the Church, supports her mission in the world, and elevates and transforms creation.

Like every form of prayer, Eucharistic adoration has its stages. Our pilgrimage of faith begins with welcoming the gift of God; the spiritual life experiences, at first, some of the personal love that God bears for us: the coming of Christ before us and into our life; sensible graces can thus be frequent. This first step gives way to a deeper and less sensible path of faith, which through trials and consolations decenters us from ourselves in order to center us on God. Through Jesus, with him and in him, in the Holy Spirit, we are turned toward the Father; we seek to enter into his sight and to do his will. Then, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are commissioned. Adoration and Eucharistic life transform believers into the image of Christ by incorporating them into his ecclesial Body and makes of their person an offering to the glory of God for the salvation of the world.

Thus the author of this book invites us on an itinerary, a journey of faith, in fifty-two stages, as many as the weeks in a year; starting with the Word of God, he shows us how it is made present in the Eucharist and invites us to mature in faith and let ourselves be transformed for a greater communion with Christ and a better collaboration with God’s plan in the world. The Word of God sheds light on the Eucharistic mystery and receives a greater light from it. Father Florian Racine turns to the experience of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, who said about the reading of the Word of God during adoration: If you read the Gospel, bring it to the Eucharist and, from the Eucharist, into yourself. You then have a much greater power. The Gospel becomes clear, and you have before your eyes and in reality the continuation of what you are reading.²

The fifty-two stages are grouped into three phases corresponding to the three theological virtues: I adore the Son, I adore the Father through the Son, I adore the Father through the Son, in the Spirit. These phases lead to a development within the spiritual life toward a life given over to God, commissioned by him at the inspiration of the Spirit, in the school of Mary.

I hope that this book enlightens and nourishes the adorers of the Father, that is to say, all believers, and that it encourages them to put out into the deep, under the guidance of Christ and at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.

+ Guy de Kerimel

Bishop of Grenoble-Vienne

The School of Adoration

STAGE 1

Introduction to the Itinerary

In his last encyclical, Pope John Paul II wrote:

The mystery of the Eucharist—sacrifice, presence, banquet—does not allow for reduction or exploitation; it must be experienced and lived in its integrity, both in its celebration and in the intimate converse with Jesus which takes place after receiving communion or in a prayerful moment of Eucharistic adoration apart from Mass. These are times when the Church is firmly built up and it becomes clear what she truly is: one, holy, catholic and apostolic; the people, temple and family of God; the body and bride of Christ, enlivened by the Holy Spirit; the universal sacrament of salvation and a hierarchically structured communion. . . . The treasure of the Eucharist, which the Lord places before us, impels us towards the goal of full sharing with all our brothers and sisters to whom we are joined by our common Baptism.¹

   • What are the three dimensions of the Eucharistic mystery?

   • What is the meaning of the two terms mystery and treasure that John Paul II uses for the Eucharist?

   • The Eucharist builds up the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist. What are the names given to the Church?

   • The treasure of the Eucharist . . . impels us towards [its] full sharing. Just what is this?

Here, the term mystery designates an effective action and presence of God in the Church, for the life of the world and the sanctification of souls. The mystery exceeds the intellect without, however, contradicting it. Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. All the sacraments are acts of Christ through which he gives us his grace. But, in the Eucharist, he is there himself, permanent, living, and acting, hidden under the appearances of the sacred Host. The itinerary will present the divine life of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, what he does there and what he expects of us. The word treasure reminds us that the Eucharist is our greatest treasure. Saint Augustine, in speaking of God, wrote about the Eucharist:

All-powerful that he is, he could make nothing greater; all-wise that he is, he could find nothing more admirable; all-wealthy that he is, he could not make a more precious present.

In other words, God cannot give us a greater gift than that of the Eucharist. In his omnipotence, he cannot bear greater witness to his love. He has nothing greater to offer. Saint Peter Julian Eymard said: Happy the soul that knows how to find Jesus in the Eucharist and, in the Eucharist, all things.² Through the Eucharist, we enter into the great movement of love: From the heights of the Trinity, the incarnate Word descends to man in the Eucharist in order that, through Communion, man may ascend to his final end, the most-lovable Trinity.³

Eucharistic grace impels us towards . . . the full sharing of this treasure. In the context of the encyclical, the concern is the communal celebration of the Eucharist between all Christians who have received the same baptism. To arrive at this goal, we must work toward the reestablishment of full ecclesial communion. But we can understand it more broadly: we cannot keep this treasure for ourselves: on the one hand, it has to be announced to all, and, on the other, it has to drive us to give ourselves to others as Christ handed himself over for us. Evangelization and charity, these are the two dimensions of the Church’s mission.

Through different stages founded on biblical texts, the itinerary will present what the Eucharist is, what is fulfilled in the Holy Mass, what Communion and adoration are, and why and how to adore, for true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him (Jn 4:23). Through illustrations, Magisterial texts, and quotations from the saints, the adorer will discover how to enter into the following movement: in adoring the Son, to be driven toward the Father to receive the Holy Spirit and thus become a missionary, by announcing this treasure and by sharing the charity that flows from it. And all this in the Church, who gives us the Eucharist and who lives from the Eucharist. The itinerary will also stress the spiritual attitudes required for entering into adoration in spirit and truth as well as the practical means for remaining faithful to prayer, despite inevitable times of dryness and purification. The adorer will learn to draw from this spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 4:14), which comes from the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

The itinerary consists of fifty-two stages, one per week during a full year. Each stage can be made during or after the weekly hour of adoration, with the aid of the Bible. It is a self-taught course, a school of adoration offered to every believer. Those responsible for adoration in a parish will be able to have successive evaluations with the adorers of their staffs in order to clarify certain points or respond to their potential questions. Here is the outline of the itinerary offered:

Introduction (one stage: the three dimensions of the Eucharist)

Part I (The Son): The Lord Comes to Me, He Calls Me, I Respond to Him (twenty-seven stages):

   • God Comes to Meet Me (seven stages: the burning bush; the tent of meeting; God alone shall you worship, choose life; God frees me from idols; Elijah meets God on Mount Horeb; the calling of Samuel; the Incarnation, and the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem).

   • I Respond, by Faith, to His Love (seven stages: everlasting love and the parable of the hidden treasure; Come to me, the Eucharist is the invention of love; the anointing at Bethany; Martha and Mary and the great commandment of love; the hemorrhaging woman and the act of faith; modes of Christ’s presence and extensions of the Incarnation; the shock of the bodily presence of the Resurrected One).

   • The Signs of the Covenant (thirteen stages: covenants in the Bible; the memorial; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; the Paschal Lamb; divine mercy; parable of the marriage feast [baptism and confession]; marriage in the Bible; the Eucharist makes the Church [ incorporation into the Church]; the suffering servant and kenosis; I am the living bread—John 6 parts 1 and 2; Isaac’s blessing and transubstantiation; the tree of life recovered).

Part II (The Father): Through the Son, Ascending to the Father and Letting Oneself Be Transformed by His Love (ten stages):

   • He Is the Good Shepherd Who Leads Me to the Father (allowing oneself to love) (five stages: Cain’s and Abel’s offerings and the offering of oneself; the Lord is my shepherd, the evangelization of my being; the clay in the potter’s hands; Not what I will, but what you will; Abba, Father, adoration: remedy for pride and despair).

   • Spiritual Warfare (from sensible graces to the adoration of the Father in spirit and truth) (five stages: Be still, and know that I am God; Jacob’s struggle and spiritual advice; the trial of the wilderness [adoration in battle, recollection, contemplation]; Moses fights against the Amalekites, and the paralytic: the power of intercession; a prophet is without honor in his own country).

Part III (The Spirit): Animated by the Spirit, Engaging in the Church’s Mission (fourteen stages):

   • In the School of Mary, Eucharistic and Missionary Woman (three stages: the Mass and the Annunciation; the Magnificat, Mary ark of the New Covenant; Jacob’s ladder and the angels, Our Lady of Fatima).

   • The Living Water that Flows from the Pierced Heart (three stages: Our Lady of Lourdes; the water gushing from Christ’s side; the Mass and the disciples at Emmaus).

   • All Things New (three stages: the sorrowful Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament; Mary gives birth to a people of adorers; the Lamb shall be its Light).

   • The Five Graces of Adoration and Mission (five stages: the Transfiguration and mission; Abide in my love [the grace of transformation]; vocations [graces of reparation and salvation]; the reign of the Eucharist in the soul [grace of sanctification]; the Samaritan Woman [grace of restoration]).

I. THE SON

The Lord Comes to Me,

He Calls Me, I Respond to Him

God Comes to Meet Me

STAGE 2

The Burning Bush: Moses Adores God and Receives a Mission

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-on-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I. Then he said, Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

   Then the LORD said, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? He said, But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.God.

   Then Moses said to God, If I come to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I AM WHO . . . AM. (Ex 3:1–14)

In the Bible, it is always God who comes to meet man. It is he who, in love, takes the initiative for the encounter. He expects only our response. Here, the angel of the LORD represents God himself who visits his people. He chooses the form of a burning bush. For some Church Fathers, the burning bush prefigures the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation, in which the divine nature unites itself to the human nature without destroying it (with neither confusion, nor separation) in the person of the Son. Present in the Blessed Sacrament, Emmanuel, the God who visits his people, is truly the burning bush. This fire also evokes the infinite love of Christ, which purifies, transforms, and heals. God calls Moses by his name. He invites him to a personal encounter, a relation of love, a heart-to-heart.

How does Moses behave before God? For what reason? The position of the body is fundamental in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. By taking up a position that is too comfortable for the body (sitting, even slouching on one’s kneeler or chair), the heart loses some of its vigor and strength. The soul grows lukewarm and finds itself in a state of slumber, unable really to pray. It is by putting one’s body at prayer that one puts one’s heart at prayer. To adore the Lord with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, and with all one’s strength (cf. Deut 6:4) is to adore the Lord with one’s entire person, thus also with one’s body. In the following passage from Revelation, John sees how God is adored in heaven. To cast one’s crown before the throne signifies the adoration of one who offers his person, with all he has and all he is, before the divine majesty:

The twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Rev 4:10–11)

The Latin etymology of the word adoration is ad os, or toward the mouth, which refers to the kiss and, by extension, to love. To adore is to give back one’s life to the Lord; it is to embrace him, because he loves us as we are. In adoration, we dare to approach him with the reverence of our body, the light of our faith, and the love of our heart. Since love always tends to humble itself and since the Lord makes himself so small in the sacred Host, the adorer is invited to humble himself before the divine majesty. Some bow profoundly, as Moses must have done before the burning bush. One of the remedies for tepidness and spiritual dryness in prayer is the quality of the bodily position.

Some practical advice: begin adoration kneeling, if possible by prostrating upon the floor for a few moments. Remain in this kneeling position (perhaps using a prie-dieu). If the position becomes painful, sit down! Do not hesitate to get back on your knees from time to time to get your heart back to adoration if distractions distance you from prayer. End adoration in the position that you took at the beginning.

God gives his name to Moses. How is the name of God to be understood? This name is mysterious, unpronounceable. We cannot name that which exceeds us, that which we cannot grasp or understand. In the Bible, one’s name signifies one’s mission. It characterizes the person. Here the name I am who am recalls that God alone exists in himself and that God needs nothing and no one in order to exist. To the contrary, God, the source of being, of every being, keeps all that lives in existence. From the sacred Host, the Lord Jesus supports the universe. How can we not marvel before the Host, which contains in its entirety what the universe cannot contain! If the earth revolves around the sun, the cosmos revolves around the Host! To approach it in faith is to hold oneself in the heart of the world. The Host is our heaven on earth. It is God who gives himself, our Alpha and our Omega, our beginning and our end. It is the resurrected Body of Christ, Savior of the world.

From this encounter with God, Moses will receive a mission. What precisely is this mission? What is the mission that God gives us, following our encounter with Jesus, present in the sacred Host?

I warmly encourage the faithful to adore Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, letting him heal our consciences and purify us, enlighten us and unite us. In their encounter with him, Christians will find strength for their spiritual life and their mission in the world. In fact, in communing heart to heart with the divine Teacher, they will discover the Father’s infinite love and will be true worshipers in spirit and in truth. Their faith in him will be revitalized; they will enter into God’s mystery and be profoundly transformed by Christ. In their trials and in joys, they will conform their life to the mystery of our Saviour’s Cross and Resurrection. . . . Every day they will become more and more sons and daughters in the Son. Then, love will be spread through them in human hearts, in order to build up the Body of Christ which is the Church to establish a society of justice, peace and brotherhood. They will be intercessors for all humanity, because every soul which is lifted up to God also lifts up the world and mysteriously contributes to the salvation freely offered by our Father in heaven.¹

God Comes to Meet Me

STAGE 3

The Tent of Meeting and the Pillar of Fire: Speaking with Jesus as a Friend

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Ex 13:21–22)

Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And every one who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and every man stood at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, every man at his tent door. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tent. (Ex 33:7–11)

During the crossing of the desert, God protected and accompanied his people. In what manner did God accompany them? God did not address himself directly to the Israelites; rather, he spoke to them through Moses. Moses interceded for them. He met personally with God in the tent of meeting, presenting the requests of the people. What sort of relation was there between God and Moses within this tent of meeting?

We all know that the more we love someone, the more we want to be with this person. Parents’ joy is to be with their children; grandparents’ to be with their grandchildren; two young people who love each other want to marry in order to spend their life together. It is the same for the most beautiful mystery of our Catholic faith: the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He remains with us day and night in the tabernacle, because he loves us so much that he never wants to leave us. He says: I am with you always (Mt 28:20), for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Lk 12:34). In other words, we are his treasure. Thus Jesus is here in person with his Heart burning with infinite love for us in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Curé of Ars often pointed to the tabernacle, saying: Jesus is really there, and if you knew how much he loves you, you would be the happiest person in the world. More than anything on earth, God wants us to be happy and to come near to him, because true happiness is knowing true love:

a love that never changes . . .

a love that has neither limits nor conditions . . .

a love that